The only Dutch Protourteam missed out on many exciting finishes when Oscar Freire developed a problem with his bottom and couldn’t sit on his bike properly. From that moment on, he was out for the count in 2005. A real pity, because Freire is the kind of rider who usually “finishes it off” for the Dutchies. Being a former World Champion, much is expected from the Spaniard this coming season, after a slightly disappointing season.


There have been a few brilliant wins as well. Many will remember the stage in the 2005 Tour the France when it took the organisers several minutes to determine the winner. Pieter Weening was the victor in the end, winning by just 0.003 of a second to T-Mobile’s Andreas Klöden. Of course their second place in the Vuelta was soothing as well, it might even turn out to be the first place after Heras’ conviction. But it’s not the same, as manager Theo de Rooy explained, to win the big Spanish race a few months afterwards.


Concentrating on the 2006 season, De Rooy knows he can’t afford not to have sprinting power. Okay, he’s got Freire. A world class sprinter. But he’s also seen how fragile his team is without a second sprinter to take his place. De Jongh (Quickstep) didn’t prove to have enough speed, so he got Graeme Brown (Panaria). Brown didn’t get too many chances with his former team because of Italian Paride Grillo. He’ll want to prove them wrong. Pedro Horrillo will back these two sprinters up and maybe win one like in 2005, since his uphill sprinting is up to par. They did lose Karsten Kroon to the Danish team of CSC.


Other important transfers have been Flecha (Fassa) and Ardila (Davitamon). Both are very attacking riders. Flecha is probably the man for the classics, where Ardila will shine more in the mountains during the stageraces. Both will have to provide backup for Denis Menchov too. Denis proved to be a good climber and also amongst the faster time triallists. If his condition is good at the right time, we might well see him on the podium in Paris. No secret that he might ride the Spanish Vuelta afterwards as well. Supporting him in the Tour de France will certainly be mountain king Rasmussen. This “flying chicken”, as he’s called by his fans, will go for the mountain prize again but won’t be their main contender for the podium. He just doesn’t have the quality to do a descent time trial. It would also be nice to see him perform well outside the Tour de France, no signs of that so far...


The Dutch bankersteam has already invested in their future with Weening (2nd Poland), Thomas Dekker(3rd Poland) and Posthuma. Also much is expected of Jukka Vastaranta and Theo Eltink. All did reasonably well in 2005, but De Rooy will be expecting more from their talents. Michael Boogerd will want to win the Tour of Flanders, since it’s always illuded him. Oldtimer Wauters will want to do well in the classics again, so does Erik Dekker. He will be leaving the team as a rider after 2006. Preferably he’ll want to go out in a blaze of glory, winning a few more like his epic 2004 win in the Paris Tours race. If ever you would like a riders’ style, it has to be Dekker’s style. Always attacking and succeeding on many occasion, recording a few Tour de France stage wins in the process! We will miss him as a rider, but he’ll be back as a teammanager with Rabo after the 2006 season. Let’s hope he’ll win one more for his many fans!


Additions to the team:
Mauricio Ardila, Graeme Brown, Marc de Maar, Juan Antonio Flecha, Kai Reus


Left the team:
Steven de Jongh, Remmert Wielinga, Karsten Kroon, Maarten den Bakker, Ronald Mutsaars